DVDs are currently the most popular source of media used to watch movies. A DVD is usually kept within an associated media storage case that shows a representation of the movie that is located on the DVD. People can therefore easily identify what movie is located on the DVD without the need to play the DVD.
Most retail outlets display DVD cases on shelving so that people are able to easily recognise the DVD they wish to purchase or hire. The DVD cases are often placed on a flat shelf adjacent to each other. The shelving allows different orientations of the DVD cases to be chosen by a person so as to highlight a particular DVD case for purchase or hire purposes.
However, if the DVD cases are not carefully placed on the shelving, an adjacent case can block a person's view of the DVD case that a person is searching for to purchase or hire. Further, a cluster of DVD cases can often become aesthetically unappealing as they may be located in different orientations and spacing on the shelving. Still further, the DVD cases may be easily knocked over as the width of the DVD cases is relatively small compared to their height and therefore when they are placed on flat shelving they are unstable.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,588 attempts to solve these problems by providing shelving that has a series of spaced dividers that extend upward and at regular spaced intervals along the length of the shelving. Cases are located between two respective dividers to hold the cases in a desired location. Hence, the cases are spaced in an orderly fashion without adjacent cases impeding a person's view of any other cases. Further, the cases cannot be easily knocked over as they are held in position by the spacers.
The shelving described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,588 is very effective in providing specified spacing and holding. However, it does not allow for different orientations of the cases as allowed by traditional shelving.